Oh well.

So I'm sure that those who have been thinking about the license today have by now figured out it didn't happen. If it had, you would have heard about it for sure!

So now we pray for next week. Keep praying please!

We're ready to make our family bigger!

This morning I cried.

Today I went for a run, and before and after the run I was thinking about the license. I couldn't think during the run as I need every ounce of concentration just to survive that! ;) I was discouraged. I was forming in my head how I would blog this morning. It went something like this:

Yesterday I was full of hope. I was calling for prayer, and I knew everyone would pray and tell their friends and we would get our miracle by Friday!

Today I am not full of hope. Why should the license be done this week? Why should people who don't know me pray for this? Why should I expect a miracle that I selfishly want for myself? Just because I am tired of waiting?

After composing those lines (and getting up off the floor where I was "stretching"), I checked facebook. I have a group for the Children's Home on facebook and yesterday I posted the blog there. 2 of my friends 'shared' it on their walls last night asking for prayer. People I don't know liked the post and commented that they were praying. People I don't know!

Then I went to the facebook page. I get an average of 80-120 views for each post of a picture or blog. The biggest has been about 450 if the post is particularly cute. As of right now 787 people viewed the post about the blog. When I saw that, I cried. If even a fraction of those people have sent prayed for the Home, then I am feeling more hope that I might just get my miracle!

Thank you so much to all of you. Thanks for you prayers. Thanks for sharing the blog. Thanks for verbally asking people to pray.

Please keep praying. My miracle is coming!!!

Prayer.

So now that everything is ready, and the house had been partied in and prayed over, it is time to open this place up! But I need one tiny little piece of paper first: the license.

I called CNA a couple of times last week. I was told that probably sometime this week I would hear that it is ready to be picked up. I've been praying, and though I've tried really hard not to get my hopes up, it has been heavy on my mind. I am constantly thinking about it throughout the day. Not a good thing, as history teaches me, it likely won't be ready this week.

But my God is bigger than my impatience and the CNA's foot dragging.

Please be praying with me. Tell your friends to be praying. It is time! As far as I know. ;) God has His timing, and I trust that. But we still need to be faithfully praying. Please pray specifically that I will have heard by Friday afternoon that the license is ready to be picked up.

A friend recently e-mailed me and said, "How are you managing with all the waiting? I would be totally going crazy!! I'm VERY impressed you aren't running up and down the streets screaming."

Well, I knew it would take a while, and I knew people wouldn't want to hear my whining all the time. For the most part I have been patient, with just occasional outbursts of frustration to the people near me. :) But I will admit, the closer we get to being done, the harder it has been for me to wait. I go into the girls room and think about when it will be filled with little girls. I see the clothes hanging in the closet and want to use them. I watch a movie alone at night and think of how much more fun it would be to watch Monsters University with little girls all around me.  Little girls who had been thrown away. Deemed unworthy of love. Abused. Thought incapable of. Been a burden on their families. An expense they couldn't afford. Had medical complications that went beyond knowledge and resources available.

Here in this home we aim to fill their love tanks right up. Introduce them to the God that made them and loves them unconditionally. Teach them to be the best that they can be. Teach them that when they can't do something, it doesn't matter. They are still treasured by God and by us.

So please pray. I want these beds full of girls!!

Inauguration Day!

On Sunday we inaugurated the house. Being so close to getting the license, I wanted to make sure we could do this event well, and once we get the license I'm guessing it's going to get busy right away!

I've lived in this area just under a year and a half. When I moved here I really only knew 2 families. So when I was making up the guest list, I thought I would just invite everyone I knew. Well that turned out to be over 120 people! And there are actually a few people I forgot to invite. Oops!

I was overwhelmed with all the help, and offers of help, that I received for this event. Some friends helped design and put together the invitations, my social worker helped plan the event and was the MC, other missionary friends helped load up all the chairs and tents I rented and took them to my place as well as back to the rental place, my housekeeper offered to make 200 paches (a traditional food that is so yummy!) and helped me buy the plates etc. needed, another ministry lent me their tent (and even came over to set it up for me), a new friend from my Bible study came over to do the decorations, everyone from my Bible study came over right after church to help set up tents, chairs, clean up the yard, finish decorations and they stayed afterwards to take it all down again, the nannies came and greeted people at the front, then spent the rest of their time in the kitchen helping with food and clean-up. I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but it was so nice to have all the help. It would have been a very different event otherwise!

Tent raising. It was nice and hot, so the tents provided some nice shade.

Blowing up balloons for decoration and making beds so it looks how it will when the girls come. (Because of humidity, I don't keep the sheets and blankets on the bed)

Leia was thinking, "All these people around, and no one will play with me!"

A time of worship.

I shared what the home is about, how God started this ministry and God's heart for children and adults with special needs. I managed to make people both laugh and cry, so I think it went well. :)

 Les and Rita live about 20 minutes away. Les (I still practicing saying Les instead of Mr. Peters!) was my teacher in high school, as well as the vice principal of the school I attended as a youngster. They have known me since I was 10, as I have been good friends with their daughter Ruth since we met. She was the catalyst that landed me in this area of Guatemala.
Les and Rita pastor the church I attend, and have made it very clear that they will welcome my girls with open arms. They are welcome in church, as well as the Sunday School classes. Les shared, and Rita prayed over the ministry.

 So blessed to have all these people in my life!

 Time of prayer.

Food time!

Visit time.

 People stayed visiting for a long time.

It was a nice time of people being able to see the house, visit with friends, and connect with new people and ministries.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. At least it became a lot more fun once I was done speaking, and everything else was taken care of. There may have been a panic phone call to a friend that morning (thanks Donna!). And I may have prepared what I was going to say during the sermon at church. And I may have been hardly able to stand by the end of the night since I decided to wear "pretty shoes" instead of my good ol' Merrill's. But all in all it was a great time!

Where we stand.

After the false alarm 2 months ago, I'm taking this round of good news a little slower.

Two weeks ago I spoke with one of the lawyers at CNA about some paperwork that had been handed in over a month ago with no reply. Within 3 business days she told me that all the requirements for the home were complete! Yay! This means that by the end of this month I should have the license. But I won't cheer about that until I actually have it in my hand. :)

In the meantime, I've been planning the inauguration of the Home. I know it's a little early, but once I have the license I'll be insta-busy. I'll take information packets to some of the family courts in different provinces so there will be a lot of travelling right away. It is important to maintain a good relationship with the court system.

Then come the girls!

I'll leave you with some cute pictures of Bible Club over the past few weeks.

 Candyland time!

 Geovani liked the dinosaur magnet board my mom bought.

 Heart bug for Valentines day!

 Joshua LOVED being in the dirt and playing with the toys.

 Empty boxes are fun for anyone!

Geovani does this every time! I love that little finger sticking up! I sometimes flick it lightly while he eats because it is too cute. Doesn't even faze him, he just keeps on eating. :)

Please continue to pray for the final paperwork to be signed and processed. Soon I'll be receiving the call to pick it up. Then we party!